|
Whitehorse get Seussified
30th April 2008
By Renée
Maloney
Imagination
Exciting
Breathtaking
These were the
words used by Lynette and Chris White to describe
Whitehorse Musical Theatre’s Production of
 “Seussical”
is all about imagination. The musical is
co-conceived by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Eric Idle.
It is a
simple story with recognizable characters from a series of a dozen
or more of the children’s books written by Theodore Geisel, (known
more widely as Dr. Seuss); written as a cohesive tale of imaginary
friends and places such as Solla Sellew, Horton the Elephant and the
Cat in the Hat.
When
reminiscing on their childhood, Chris and Lynette come from very
different experiences. Lynette loved
fantasy. She came from recreating stories from her childhood such as
the “Magic Fair away Tree” in her bedroom acting out all the
characters and then performing them in her garage for the neighbours,
whilst Chris was more
preoccupied with painting and drawing realistic compositions. Chris
wasn’t into imagination nor does he remember growing reading the Dr
Seuss books but does remember the next door neighbor’s children
having them and distinctly remembers not liking the Illustrations.
He discussed the concept the illustrations being very abstract and
“deliberately needing filling by
the imagination”.
Chris and
Lynette didn’t want to purely recreate these stories from page to
stage but use them as a base to build, develop and create
characters, emotions and places using the experiences of each of the
actors. They said each of the cast members brought life experiences
of their own to assist adding to this next dimension and to bring it
together as a traditional stage extravaganza. I had the pleasure of
watching Chris paint part of the set during that same day at their
Bayswater factory and took a look at the model of the finished set
and WOW- they have definitely used their imaginations.
Chris, Lynette
and Phil have tried to take the elements of a child’s level of
excitement and that feeling of loosing breath and getting wound up
the whole way through. They want the audience to have those
reactions as well as the cast members giving off that same energy
 throughout
their performances. The books are formerly that of a children’s
genre however the musical is multilayered. On the surface it is
this fictional tale of imagination and morality. Upon it all is
this dark, mysterious and meaningful story of
non-acceptance.
 Phil
Osborne quite vividly remembers “Green Eggs and Ham” and “Fox in
Socks”
and remembers being
quite scared of the “Cat in the Hat”. The production team and the
Cat in the Hat himself, Karl
McNamara (pictured right), use elements of the two dimensional
Cat in the Hat together with different crazy characters he remembers
as a child. Karl really wanted to make his character appear larger
than normal as everything does when you are a small child. Lynette
and Chris wanted him to have this “pocket of sinister behavior”
about him and as a team they draw on a wide range of evil and
sinister behaviors from other characters which pop up at their
appropriate times.
Emily Doran
(Gertrude Mc Fuzz), Karl McNamara (Cat in the Hat) and
Shaun Kingma (Horton the Elephant) all have brought different
qualities to this eclectic puzzle. Emily hasn’t (consciously) drawn
on any childhood memories but has drawn on her own childhood
behavior and her observations from working with children. However
her favourite stories from her childhood along with the “Magic
faraway tree” is “Naughty Amelia Jane” – all written by Enid Blyton.
Karl’s
memories of his childhood are mostly television based from the
children’s programs of “T-Bag” and “Puddle Lane” as
well as the cartoon Disney programs that we found on Saturday
Morning Disney and the usual Disney movie on Saturday evenings. His
exposure to Dr Seuss was through the pictures. Karl’s predisposition
to being over enthusiastic really lends it self to the role also.
 Shaun
Kingma plays a loveable Horton the Elephant that really connects
with the audience. They are
supposed to feel sorry for Horton as he looses his faith in the
world. However the audience is then invited to join him on his
journey (with JoJo) as they overcome this depletion in faith and
realizes that
it is ok to be an individual in both of their worlds. Shaun has said
that this role has really extended his
acting skills and physicality from Beauty and the Beast whilst
finding a balance between child and
adult. Shaun admitted that he struggles to be funny therefore has
really searched for the honesty
within his character to bring forward comedic qualities rather than
try to combine in slapstick.
Seussical is
about believing in yourself, keeping promises and never loosing
faith in the world.
The Seussical music is a magnificently eclectic mix of music
including ballads, up-tempo funkier songs and show stopping sounds.
It is truly going to be a treat for all ages in this musical stage
extravaganza not to be missed.
After all
those years of being stuck on a page you can find “Seussical” at the
Besen Centre from 17th to the 31st May.
For phone bookings 03 9262 6555 between
10.00am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday.
Book Online through
the Whitehorse Centre
|